I'm pleased with the result. Not entirely pleased with the overall performance.

It was good enough to beat a Cubs team that has pretty much mailed it in. However, these incomplete nine inning performances weren't good enough to get through a rough road trip. Will this type of effort be enough to beat the Giants on Tuesday and Wednesday?

With an 8-1 lead in the 7th inning, it should have never come down to a game-saving catch by Dexter Fowler. Unfortunately, it did. Thankfully he made the catch. Now we just hold our breath and hope it's nothing more than the hip and rib contusion he has been initially diagnosed with.

MRI is scheduled for tomorrow.

I'm sure he would have made the same effort in a 10-1 game, so the situation may not have dictated the injury. Then again, with the adrenaline flowing and the understanding of what might have been if that ball isn't caught, Dexter may have actually shifted into a gear he's not used to.

Let's be honest.. he doesn't need to step on the gas very often. Usually he can coast on flyballs most humans would need to jump on a horse to run down. Sometimes that's to his advantage. Sometimes it isn't.

Jorge De La Rosa

I would say he's about 100% at this point. Another outing like this one and I think we'll be safe to assume good things going forward.

And how about those basehits? Smoked two right back through the box. Nice piece of hitting!

Huston Street

Closers can't focus in non-save situations. It's the nature of the beast, though I still don't completely understand why. Managers haven't exactly caught on to this and always seem willing to play with fire and/or beg for drama by throwing them out there. I don't understand that either. It almost never fails to backfire.